Ministry plans law to curb fixing

Bhopal: The Union ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs is mulling to enact a law on curbing match-fixing and will hold a meeting with other ministries and officials concerned in the national capital to find out ways to check recurrence of the menace. Addressing a meet-the-press programme here, Union minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Uma Bharati on Saturday said her ministry has sought the opinion of the union law ministry on enacting the law. She said the proposed meeting would be attended by officials of the Union home and law ministries, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the enforcement directorate. She described match-fixing as a ''national crime.' On demand for punishment to five Indian cricketers, who were named by the CBI in its report on match-fixing and related malpractices, she said the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) report in this regard is awaited and would be made public soon.Asked if the tainted players would be stripped of national awards, Ms Bharati said, ''Let the BCCI first come out with its report''. She repeated her views when asked whether the guilty players would be prosecuted under the Anti-Corruption Act.She made it clear that the match-fixing episode would be given a logical end and there would be no ''leepapoti''(hush up) from any angle. Asked if leaders of Samata Party, an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the centre, were putting pressure to on her save Ajay Jadeja, one of the accused in match-fixing, Ms Bharati replied in the negative.UNI